02.23.05

Jose Canseco is so certain of what he has said, so assured that his accusations are founded, that earlier in the day he revealed plans to stage a pay-per-view polygraph examination.

Taking a lie-detector test before a paying public, he said on ESPN2′s “Cold Pizza”, would be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back.” He said on NBC’s “Today” that “something will occur in the next month or so that will prove my book 100 percent correct.”

He also told Matt Lauer on “Today” that “somewhere down the line, very soon,” those who have denied the accusations in his book – from McGwire to their former Oakland manager, Tony La Russa – “are going to be ashamed of what they said.”

The pay-per-view plan was rejected by HBO Sports.

“We took a pass, feeling that it felt like you’d have to take a shower after watching it,” said Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports. “None of us saw a show there. It felt like a publicity stunt to make money and that doesn’t translate into television.”

Greenburg added: “What would we do? Show highlights of him shooting steroids into people’s rear ends, then watch the needle going off a polygraph. It would be like watching paint dry.”

At the bookstore, after the supply of autograph-signing fans had faded, Canseco said that for clues to the elements of the show, “Read the book! The question is, ‘Is Jose Canseco telling the truth?’ We’ll tackle the issue.”

But what else would happen in 60 or 90 minutes for a price of, say, $19.95 per home? “That’s yet to be seen,” Canseco said. “Look, I never thought when I wrote this that it’d be a best seller, to tell my story without the media diluting it.”

Those who assembled for the book signing were not certain they would pay to watch Canseco on pay per view.

“I’d do something like that,” said John Steiner, a contractor from Tappan. “I paid $49.95 for Tyson fights that lasted two rounds. So I could do that.”